Wham Rap! was the first song written by Michael and Ridgeley following the breakup of their previous band, The Executive, but before they had officially formed Wham! The genesis of the song began in 1981 and was a result of Ridgeley making up his own words while dancing to "Rapper's Delight" with Michael and Shirley in Bogart's nightclub in South Harrow. As they continued to work on the song an ultimatum to Michael from his father inspired the line "Get yourself a job or get out of this house". A demo of Wham Rap! was recorded along with Club Tropicana and Careless Whisper on a borrowed Fostex 4-track porta-studio, with the resulting 3 song demo-tape gaining Wham! their record contract with Innervision Records some weeks later. Innervision quickly arranged for a proper demo of the song to be recorded at Halligan Band Centre in Holloway using session musicians on bass and drums, which was then used by Michael and Ridgeley as a backing track for promotional performances at various nightclubs in preparation for their debut release.
Synopsis
Although rap was still an underground and almost exclusively American phenomenon in the early 1980s, Michael rapped—as the title implies—a number of verses about the joys of living every day to the fullest, reveling in unemployment and celebrating government assistance from the Department of Health and Social Security. The explicitly political song flew in the face of the conventional British left-wing who were talking about the 'right to work' at the time. The chorus asked the question "Do you enjoy what you do?", which brought about the bracketed section of the title. The video depicted Michael and Ridgeley in their leather jackets, combining their moody image with a bright, effervescent choreography. The video was filmed in London in February 1983 after the single was re-issued.
Versions
Uncharacteristically for Wham!, the Unsocial Mix of the song contains multiple repetitions of the swear words "damn", "bullshit", "shit" and "crap". All versions include "don't need this crap". These lines were included to illustrate the band's then-rebellious image, and future songs by Wham! would mostly refrain from using this type of language. Both the Social Mix and the Fantastic album version have different verses from the Unsocial Mix; thus, there are three different sets of verse lyrics altogether. However, only the album version has appeared on CD.
Chart performance
The song, which had been tentatively released in June 1982 when Wham! were unknown, failed to make any impact and was later re-issued in January 1983 after the duo had achieved their breakthrough with "Young Guns ". The single subsequently reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, the second release of four hits from Wham!'s debut album Fantastic.
Remixes
A new remix of the song was made in 1986, combining some of the Unsocial Mix with the album version. This version, entitled "Wham! Rap '86", was released on their American and Japanese album Music from the Edge of Heaven, and as the B-side on the 7-inch single "The Edge of Heaven" in the UK, Australia and Europe.
Note: Due to an error in labelling, the "Unsocial Mix" is listed as the single's A-side despite Michael specifically referring to it as the B-side in the song's lyrics: "Hey, everybody, now listen to me/Cut the radio bullshit, this is side B."
